Or the Saga as it has become recently.. Well, my season was going well.. we'd had a win.. was putting in some good times and then...... I binned it at Oulton (twice actually) - First shunt was on a trackday we used as a test day on the lead up and I got effectively taken out by someone on a V4s funnily enough at Druids. Was a bit pissed off at first because the guy had booked fast group but honestly he was a mobile chicane. Was a fairly sedate tip off though, albeit a fast one. No drama. Crash two came in the 'official test' - I got a false neutral going down the box in to Cascades and the bike wouldn't turn. I hit the gravel, data had the bike switching off at around 98mph meaning i was tumbling wayyyy before that.. so it was a hefty dismount, I cartwheeled 7 times and landed on my head, was a bit bashed up, mainly my shoulder and hand. Hands still not right now. Anyway - bumped in to Dave @Monners whilst in hospital believe it or not we'd both crashed laps apart on the same days and both ended up in A&E together on the second one ! Doh! (full of the good stuff) The actual damage to the bike on the face of it wasn't too bad. But i'd lost complete trust in the gearbox having had a few close shaves with falses this year. In stepped a friend of mine who had a new full World Super Sport Spec Chris Mehew engine for my bike with all the bells and whistles. Worked head, lots of HRC and PTR/Tenkate factory gucci bits, cams, STM Slipper etc etc. And to be honest rebuilding my motor with the sheer amount of miles on it (have you ever heard of a 600cc race engine doing over 20k miles! thing should be in a museum its amazing) was going to be an expensive affair.. so man math took hold and I sourced the new engine instead.. There's me thinking I'd made the easy choice.........
So the thing is with the honda, it's a cracking bike honestly... built like a tonka toy, arguably still the best 600 chassis out there... BUT... and the reason why you don't see many in world or british Supersport anymore is the pure fact that they need work to still be competitive at the top of short circuit racing which is now even harder as the SuperSport regs state you can only change so much (it really isn't a lot these days) and superstock... well forget it. They're still the b#llocks for road racing to be honest. The new zx6 and r6 are putting out 130bhp with a factory pipe/intake/electronics these days whereas with the honda you need a fair bit more - they really are an all or nothing type bike! Performance is always a trade off against reliability which is why you see so many R6's blowing up. So, what was next... well I had the new motor fitted - happy days... Well not quite. We stuck the bike on the dyno (same dyno as my stock motor) and were shocked to find that it wasn't really making any power at all, in fact it was down on power compared to my stocker I called upon a friend of mine, who ran a TT team and knows these bikes like the back of his hand and unfortunately this meant that my bike.. that had just been rebuilt ended up like this... again! After a LOT of dicking about, it was highlighted that the Hondas really need a fair bit of advance on the timing to get the best out of them.. so YIPPEE more money and time for HRC Factory electronics comprising of Looms and ECU, but also World Championship one piece billet velocity stacks and a complete strip down of the bike. We also had to crack the motor just to be sure as it was oddly loosing power on every run we made for some reason It turned out the timing was also out, we aren't sure whether it jumped or what but it's fine now ! Bikes nearly back together now & I pick it up this week for it to be shipped to Spain on Monday (cutting it close) - honestly guys if you ever go racing, for the love of god BUY A RACE BIKE, don't build one I initially purchased this bike as a very good but basic track bike... and this is now the spec Full WSS spec Chris Mehew engine HRC gearbox & hybrid ceramic bearings. STM Slipper Clutch New Style PTR manual Cam Chain Tensioner. Custom made thermostat housing (thermo removed) HRC Kit Loom. HRC ‘Ten Kate worked’ ECU. HRC tilt switch. Oversized rad. Custom one piece billet PTR WSS Velocity stacks. Ten Kate Racing Products lightweight clutch cable assembly. Full titanium Pro bolt engine kit Titanium valve cover bolts Pro bolt titanium magnetic sump plug. Pro bolt titanium oil filler cap. Correct HRC spec spark plugs. Full arrow race exhaust system - full carbon Indy with removable baffle. Healtec Servo eliminator fitted and all removed, pairs system removed and blanked with Mehew blanks. Mupo Factory K911 & evo racing suspension front and rear (with remote preload). GPR Steering Damper Starlane gps4 data logger mounted on Kelfab bracket Ten Kate Racing Products front subframe Ten Kate Racing Products air intake. MWR racing air filter Lightech chain adjusters Lightech Magnesium rear sets (race and road pattern) MSS lock stop savers. Healtec gear indicator Translogic quick shifter Carbon Battery tray. Sidestand removed as per acu regs. Race fairings with tall TT screen Renthal clip ons Domino grips. TWM Brake Lever Guard Domino quick action throttle Aliant Lightweight lithium battery ACU Rain light (operated from its own switch) Gb racing engine protectors R&G acu shark fin chain guard R&G tank grips R&G bobbins Eazi Grip evo tank grips. Carbon tank protector Renthal sprocket(s) and EK Gold chain 520. Titanium sprocket nuts. Titanium disc bolts front. Biketek Quick fill tank cap Brembo zo4 pads. Motul RBS 660 fluid. Run on Motul 300v HEL Brake lines HRC reservoir HRC rear brake reservoir Accossato 19 master cylinder Wets on wheels Full Samco hose kit
Haha that damn shopping list. She does look amazing though. I would get her straight on the T3 dyno for comparison. Super happy you got it sorted for Alcarras this month.
But the enjoyment and fiddle factor of building yourself must be worth the $$$ alone sounds like it’s a cracking bit of kit.
